Travelport next month will embark on "a phased roll-out" to enable travel agency sales of KLM's Economy Comfort premium economy seat using electronic miscellaneous document standards. Currently in
testing, a Netherlands-based travel agency recently issued the first EMD for
Economy Comfort in conjunction with KLM and Travelport, according to the GDS
operator.

NH Hotel Group, Europe's
third-largest hotel chain, on Feb. 3 announced further expansion with the
acquisition of the 20-hotel Hoteles Royal group in Latin America. NH Hotel
Group, based in Spain, also announced it disposed of 30 "non-strategic"
properties in 2014 but added nine new ones, leaving the company with around 400
hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Revenue per
available room in 2014 grew 3 percent year over year and CEO Federico Gonzalez forecast
2015 RevPAR growth of 5 percent. Against this background, chief commercial
officer Rufino Perez spoke to BTN
contributing editor Amon Cohen about developments in the company's relationship
with the corporate market.

Average rates and occupancy at hotels in December increased year over year in the Americas and the Middle East and Africa, but average rates decreased, while occupancy rose in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region, according to data from STR Global.

Commercial cards will be exempted from a forthcoming European Union cap on card interchange fees after all, as the European Parliament announced Wednesday it has backed down from its original decision to block such an exemption. Without the exemption, the interchange fee charged on "four-party" commercial cards (effectively those issued as Visa or MasterCard cards) would have been cut from an average of 1.5 percent to a maximum of 0.3 percent, whereas "three-party" providers (principally American Express and Diners Club) would have been free to continue imposing much higher merchant fees.

Average roundtrip airfares in 2015 will decline 5.1 percent year over year, adjusted for inflation and not counting taxes and surcharges, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the International Air Transport Association.